Redemption
by Kamaremare
Summary: AU. Years after the warehouse incident, Yagami Light remains in a coma, his soul left to wander with no one able to see or interact with him. The shinigami are bored again, and this time, the rules are simple. He cannot awaken from his coma until he "redeems" himself within the given time limit. If he doesn't, he dies. But does he really want to wake up? LightOC & L is alive.


**Author's Note:** If you're here, then I'm assuming you took interest in my story! Welcome to _Redemption_, a little something that has been sitting on my hard drive for...well, forever, actually! I haven't written a fanfiction in...I'd like to say 4 years, but I know it's been much longer than that. Nonetheless, please enjoy this! Originally, this was to be an original story to be posted on FictionPress, but I decided it would make an okay fanfic since I haven't written one in so long. Please excuse any typos and feel free to point them out/ask any questions or point out anything that doesn't make sense! This prologue was originally going to be a part of chapter one, but I decided to split it up to make a prologue since I thought this would make a perfect introduction.

**IF YOU HAVEN'T FINISHED DEATH NOTE. STOP HERE. SPOILER WARNING. DO NOT READ ON.**

**A little background on this story (THIS IS IMPORTANT TO THE PLOT, SO READ THIS):** This takes place a few years after the ending of Death Note. Instead of Light having a dramatic showdown with Near, for story purposes, I tweaked it a bit so that **L is still alive** and that **he was the one who confronted and captured Light and Mikami with the help of Mello, Matt, and Near**. Light was still shot, but instead **put into a coma** instead of being killed by Ryuk. **Mikami is still alive as well as Misa.**

I think that's all you need to know in order to enjoy this story to its fullest. Please keep in mind, everything will be explained, including the entire shindig with the shinigami, so please don't try to poke holes in my plot. It's meant to be something of a mystery! The best part of the story is finding out the answers to your questions!

This is my first time trying my hand at an AU (Author's Universe) type story, so please don't set your expectations too high.

**Too Long; Didn't Read: I haven't written fanfics in years, this was going to be an original story so I turned it into a fanfic because of the plot. L is alive, so are Mello, Matt, Near, Mikami, Misa. Light was still shot, but he is in a coma.**

I'll stop droning on now.

_~Mare_

* * *

**Prologue**

There's a dream I'm always having. Every time I even remotely start to dose off, the dream starts. I can't wake myself up from it, even if I wanted to. I've tried blinking twice, pinching myself, wiggling my toes, opening my eyes - everything. Some would say it's a nightmare, but I wouldn't classify it as one, even though it terrifies me.

In this dream, everything is black. The sky is black, the ground is black, the grass is black. The only way to tell the scenery or the ground from anything else is the fact that everything has a gray outline to it. But no color. Just black. The grass, normally full of different shades of green and brown, is simply small, thin black triangles outlined in gray. The only thing that has color is me, and even the colors I am made up of are dull and bleak.

In this dream, I run. Because ahead of me, I can see color. I can see where, just up ahead, the grass is green and the sky is blue. I can see where the horizon is dyed shades of purple and orange and the sun shines brightly over trees that have green leaves and pink blossoms. I try to run towards it, to escape the darkness. But every step I take, no matter how many, brings me no closer to the world I long for. Colorless seasons come and go; I run through black rain, black snow, and black hail. The black sun sets and the black moon rises. Yet I never reach the colorful world that teases me with its presence. I reach out for it, I scream for it, but all in vain. My voice merely echoes in a dark world where no one exists but me.

The doctors can't find anything wrong with me. All scans and tests bear normal results. All the counselors and therapists say that it's just a dream or a phase - that I'll grow out of it, then they write off a prescription for sleeping pills and call it a day.

Mom is worried. She thinks that because of this dream, I'll become an insomniac. The concept sure does _seem_ sensible, that by never sleeping, I'd never have to face this dream again. The thought has occurred to me multiple times, believe me. Sometimes I lie awake for as long as I can, until I can fight the darkness no longer and I succumb to it.

Despite the fear...sometimes, I welcome sleep because I somehow have a sliver of optimism that one day, I can pass barrier that keeps me from the other side where the voice of my mother calls me and beckons me to rejoin her side. "Risa!" she calls. "Where are you?!" I've tried to shout back, again and again, but my attempts are in vain. It seems that although sounds from the colorful world make their way to the world of darkness, the world of darkness cannot communicate in any way with the colorful world.

This realization is what scares me the most.


End file.
